renifler

French

Etymology

From re- + nifler (“to irritate, annoy”), from the same Germanic root as Italian niffo, niffa (“snout”); related to Low German Niff (“nose, mouth, bill”), Dutch neb (“nose, beak”), English neb (“nose, beak, face”). More at neb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.ni.fle/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

renifler

1. to sniff
2. to turn up one's nose (at)
3. to smell (sense with the nose)

Conjugation

Conjugation of renifler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	renifler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	reniflant /ʁə.ni.flɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		reniflé /ʁə.ni.fle/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	renifle /ʁə.nifl/	renifles /ʁə.nifl/	renifle /ʁə.nifl/	reniflons /ʁə.ni.flɔ̃/	reniflez /ʁə.ni.fle/	reniflent /ʁə.nifl/
	imperfect	reniflais /ʁə.ni.flɛ/	reniflais /ʁə.ni.flɛ/	reniflait /ʁə.ni.flɛ/	reniflions /ʁə.ni.fli.jɔ̃/	renifliez /ʁə.ni.fli.je/	reniflaient /ʁə.ni.flɛ/
	past historic2	reniflai /ʁə.ni.fle/	reniflas /ʁə.ni.fla/	renifla /ʁə.ni.fla/	reniflâmes /ʁə.ni.flam/	reniflâtes /ʁə.ni.flat/	reniflèrent /ʁə.ni.flɛʁ/
	future	reniflerai /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁe/	renifleras /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁa/	reniflera /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁa/	reniflerons /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɔ̃/	reniflerez /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁe/	renifleront /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	reniflerais /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɛ/	reniflerais /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɛ/	reniflerait /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɛ/	reniflerions /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁjɔ̃/	renifleriez /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁje/	renifleraient /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	renifle /ʁə.nifl/	renifles /ʁə.nifl/	renifle /ʁə.nifl/	reniflions /ʁə.ni.fli.jɔ̃/	renifliez /ʁə.ni.fli.je/	reniflent /ʁə.nifl/
	imperfect2	reniflasse /ʁə.ni.flas/	reniflasses /ʁə.ni.flas/	reniflât /ʁə.ni.fla/	reniflassions /ʁə.ni.fla.sjɔ̃/	reniflassiez /ʁə.ni.fla.sje/	reniflassent /ʁə.ni.flas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	renifle /ʁə.nifl/	—	reniflons /ʁə.ni.flɔ̃/	reniflez /ʁə.ni.fle/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• renifleur

Further reading

• “renifler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.